China Teacher's Program Training

August 3, 2009

Today is the first day of our China Teacher's Program Training at BYU. We started at 7:30 a.m. (which meant we had to leave home at 6:30 a.m.) and ended at 8:00 p.m. (home by 9:00 p.m.) It was a long, tiring but very productive and enjoyable day.

There is a limit of 70 people who can participate in the program each year. This is a limit established by the General Authorities who supervise the program. Elder Oaks is the primary contact. This year about 1/3 of the participants are returning for a second (or third) year. It must be a good experience if this many return. In our training today, there is one single brother. The rest are couples. Most of the couples come from Utah with a few from California, Washington, Arizona, Wyoming, etc. One couple is from Canada.

Today we had classes on Chinese history and culture, learning to speak Chinese (we studied sounds and tones), how to prepare a lesson plan, basic medical concerns, etc. In the evening we had a Family Home Evening where we were able to get better acquainted with the participants. Everything was very positive. We are getting excited about our new experience.